John A. Canning Jr. is a

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

investor and sports executive. He is the founder and chairman of

Madison Dearborn Partners Madison Dearborn Partners (MDP) is an American private equity firm specializing in leveraged buyouts of privately held or publicly traded companies, or divisions of larger companies; recapitalizations of family-owned or closely held companies; ba ...

, the large

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

-based

private equity firm A private equity firm or private equity company (often described as a financial sponsor) is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of a Startup company, startup or of an existin ...

Career

Canning was an early investor in

in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Canning founded

in 1992. Since then the firm has raised over $14 billion of investor commitments. Prior to founding Madison Dearborn, Canning and his team had previously made

investments for

First Chicago Corporation First Chicago Bank was a Chicago, United States-based retail and commercial bank tracing its roots to 1863, when it received one of the first charters under the then new National Bank Act. Over the years, the bank operated under several names inc ...

. Canning joined The First National Bank of Chicago in 1968 and spent 24 years with the bank serving as Executive Vice President of the bank and later as President of First Chicago Venture Capital, the predecessor of Madison Dearborn.

Board Memberships

Canning currently serves on the Boards of Directors of * Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club (Canning is a minority owner) * Exelon Corporation *

TransUnion TransUnion LLC is an American consumer credit reporting agency. TransUnion collects and aggregates information on over one billion individual consumers in over thirty countries including "200 million files profiling nearly every credit-active co ...

Northwestern Memorial Hospital Northwestern Memorial Hospital (NMH) is a nationally ranked academic medical center located on Northwestern University's Campus of Northwestern University, Chicago campus in Streeterville, Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship campus for Nort ...

* Children’s Inner City Educational Fund * The Economic Club of Chicago *

Corning Incorporated Corning Incorporated is an American multinational technology company specializing in glass, ceramics, and related materials and technologies including advanced optics, primarily for industrial and scientific applications. The company was name ...

Canning currently serves on the Boards of Trustees of: *

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

Field Museum of Natural History The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educationa ...

* Museum of Science and Industry
Big Shoulders Fund
Canning is a member of the Public Advisory Board of the American Joint Replacement Registry. Canning also serves as a commissioner of the Irish Pension Reserve Fund, a trustee and chairman of The Chicago Community Trust as well as a director and chairman of the

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (informally the Chicago Fed) is one of twelve Federal Reserve Banks that, along with the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, make up the Federal Reserve System, the United States' central bank. The Chicago Fed ...

Education

Canning received his undergraduate degree from

Denison University Denison University is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Granville, Ohio, United States. One of the earliest colleges established in the former Northwest Territory, Denison University was founded in 1831. It was first called ...

in 1966 and a J.D. from

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

in 1969.

Awards

John Canning Jr. was inducted as a Laureate of

The Lincoln Academy of Illinois The Lincoln Academy of Illinois is a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to recognizing contributions made by living Illinoisans. Named for Abraham Lincoln, the Academy administers the Order of Lincoln, the highest award given b ...

and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the State’s highest honor) by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn in 2014 in the area of Business & Industry.

References

After the gold rush
Crain's Chicago Business, December 15, 2003

External links

Madison Dearborn Partners > Principals
(company website) {{DEFAULTSORT:Canning, John Jr. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Private equity and venture capital investors American sports businesspeople Denison University alumni Duke University School of Law alumni JPMorgan Chase people Madison Dearborn Partners